The Evidence Ledger כִּתְבֵי הַקֹּדֶשׁ הָעַתִּיקִים · Τὰ ἀρχαῖα χειρόγραφα

Every Principal Biblical Manuscript & Witness · 300 CE and Earlier · Sortable by Date

Abstract — A single sortable catalog of the ancient manuscripts and textual witnesses — 300 CE or earlier — that scholars use to triangulate and verify the text of the Bible and the historical Jesus: the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls, the Greek Septuagint papyri and codices, the earliest New Testament papyri, and the earliest non-Christian witnesses to Jesus. Each entry lists its date (click any column to re-sort), the exact books/chapters it preserves, where it is kept, and what it helps verify — Torah, Isaiah, Psalm 22, Daniel 9, and Jesus. Dates are best-estimate midpoints for sorting; the human range is shown. Everything here is real and sourced; disputed datings and interpolations are flagged, not hidden.

Honesty This is a principal-witnesses catalog, not an exhaustive one — there are ~230 biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and ~140 New Testament papyri; the most significant and most-cited are listed. "Date" is a single midpoint for sorting; manuscript dating (especially the NT papyri) is debated, so the mainstream range is given in the label. The two great codices (Vaticanus, Sinaiticus) fall just after 300 CE and are included as the earliest near-complete Bibles, flagged as 4th-century.

Type All Hebrew / Dead Sea Scrolls Greek Septuagint New Testament Extra-biblical (Jesus)

Verifies Everything Jesus Daniel 9 Psalm 22 Isaiah Torah

Date ▲	Manuscript / Witness ▲	Type ▲	Lang ▲	Books & chapters/verses ▲	Verifies ▲	Repository ▲	Significance / honest note ▲

§How the triangulation works

Each prophecy or claim is "triangulated" when it is attested by independent lines — a Hebrew scroll, the pre-Christian Greek, and (for Jesus) the New Testament and hostile non-Christian sources — that could not have colluded. Filter the table above by any target to see its witnesses.

The bottom line The oldest Hebrew Bibles are the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd c. BCE – 1st c. CE); the oldest translation is the pre-Christian Greek Septuagint (Torah ~250 BCE, Prophets/Psalms 2nd c. BCE); the earliest New Testament copies begin ~125 CE and the gospel tradition is anchored by a creed (1 Cor 15:3–7) dated within a few years of the crucifixion; and Jesus' existence and execution under Pilate are independently reported by non-Christian writers (Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny) within ~60–85 years. No single document carries the whole case — but together they converge.

The Evidence Ledger · GodExamined.com · principal ancient witnesses ≤ 300 CE
Sources per entry (DJD, Leon Levy DSS Library, INTF/Gregory-Aland, Rahlfs-Fraenkel, standard critical editions). Local study document.